Time’s up for the Yes2Rail blog, which I launched on June 30, 2008 as a paid consultant on Honolulu's elevated rail project. Yes2Rail’s August 13, 2012 post was its last following the author's move to Sacramento, CA. You’re invited to read four-plus years of information-packed entries, many of which are linked at our “aggregation site.” Look for the paragraph with red copy in the right-hand column, below. Mahalo for all the positive comments Yes2Rail received since its start.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

The flag is up and waving, so if you have comments to submit on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Honolulu Transit Project, now’s the time to act.

Written comments may be sent to the Department of Transportation Services, 650 South King Street, 3rd Floor, Honolulu, HI 96813. Comments must be received or postmarked by 4:30 p.m. on January 7, 2009.

Copies of the Draft EIS can be reviewed at State libraries, the City library, the Department of Transportation Services (at the above address) and at the Rapid Transit Division office, 1099 Alakea Street, Suite 1700. The Draft EIS is also available online.

The project website has additional content: a video guide to the Draft EIS and a computer-simulated fly through of the two alternative alignments covered in the Draft EIS; the Salt Lake alignment and the Airport alignment. Renderings of rail transit station characteristics will be added to the website in the coming days. Residents can request a free DVD with the Draft EIS, the video guide, computer simulations of both alignments and renderings of rail transit station characteristics by calling 566-2299 or visiting the website.

Other Things To Know

Here’s the schedule for public hearings on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the City’s elevated transit system:

The entire Draft EIS is available at the project’s web site. The public comment period will remain open until January 7. The public comment period is mandated by federal and state laws. All comments received will be considered as the Final EIS is prepared by the FTA and the City. All substantive comments will be responded to in writing.

Regarding the Hearings

• Persons wishing to speak at the hearings should sign up at the hearting site.

• Elected and public officials will be heard first. Persons desiring to testify should register at the entrance to the hearing room, and will be called in order of registration.

• Any individual may appear and speak for him or herself, or if duly authorized, for any local civic group, organization, club or association, subject to the rules provided below. Speakers should give their name and address. If representing a group, this information should also be given.

• Speakers must limit their statements to three minutes. Additional prepared statements or literature, pertaining to the project, may be submitted at this hearing or through 4:30 p.m. January 7, 2009 to: Department of Transportation Services, 650 South King St., 3rd Floor, Honolulu, Hawaii 96813. These statements will be made part of the official record if they include a legible name and address.

• For these hearings, all statements, oral or written, should be directed to the Hearing Official and must be related to the subject matter of the hearing.

• Each person speaking before the audience must do so at the floor microphone. A court stenographer will record and transcribe the hearing procedures. If required, the Hearing Officer will announce any other specific rules governing the hearing.

• As part of this public hearing process, the Honolulu Rail Transit Project Team is not allowed to respond to any questions or concerns raised by the speaker. The Project Team will be available to address questions in an area outside the hearing venue.

The meeting sites for the public hearings are accessible to persons with disabilities. Individuals requiring reasonable accommodation may request written materials in alternative formats, sign language, interpreters, physical accessibility accommodations, or other reasonable accommodations by calling (808) 566-2299 (voice) or e-mailing info@honolulutransit.org at least 48 hours prior to the planned hearing.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

The Advertiser and the Star-Bulletin provide details on yesterday’s City Council vote to shift the rail system’s alignment back to the airport routing. The stories also describe the events two years ago that produced the current Salt Lake plan.

We’ll be posting the schedule for the upcoming hearings on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement just as soon as it’s released.

Friday, November 7, 2008

Visitors to this blog from beyond the reef can’t be blamed for wondering what’s next in the quest to build Honolulu’s commuter rail system.

The latest wrinkle surfaced less than 24 hours after the polls closed on Tuesday, when voters gave thumbs up to the project. Now comes a long-standing rail opponent who says he’ll change his vote if the route is switched to the airport alternative from the Salt Lake Boulevard routing.

Both the Advertiser and the Star-Bulletin give prominent treatment to this scenario today (including this supportive editorial). We’ll leave it there for now and invite you to comment on this proposal by clicking the link, below.

“Taken in the mass, the automobile is a noxious mechanism whose destiny in workaday urban use is to frustrate man and make dead certain that he approaches his daily occupation unhappy and inefficient.” (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, May 24, 1966)

Thousands of today’s drivers who share Blaisdell’s dim view of car commuting can now anticipate with confidence a new commuting mode that will liberate them from their twice-daily grind behind the wheel.

The really heartening news in the election is that so many Oahu residents voted beyond their own self-interest in affirming the need for a multi-modal transportation system built around a core rail line.

Most residents won’t ride the train – that’s a given – so for “Yes” to win, the majority had to endorse the City’s message that rail will be an alternative to traffic congestion and will enhance the quality of life of all Oahu residents, not just those who live and work along its route.

As we said the day we launched this blog, rail makes sense for Oahu residents no matter where they live. Today’s vote showed that an absolute majority agrees.

This Isn't Political

Yes2Rail is a blog about the Honolulu rail transit project, which has become the key issue in this year’s mayoral race. We comment on the candidates’ plans to address Oahu’s growing congestion problem and whether those plans could meet the need as well as elevated rail can and will. That’s not the same as criticizing the candidates, and we urge our readers to recognize the difference.

Another red-light runner meets Denver at-grade train, 6.13.12

Honolulu rail will be elevated, with zero possibility for accidents like those shown in this column in cities with at-grade systems. Visit our "aggregation site" for much more on why elevated rail is the only reasonable way to build Honolulu rail.

What riding the train will avoid

Bus Accident Aftermath on H-1

'Black Tuesday'--9/5/06 Crash Produced Nightmare Commute

Typical H-1 Traffic

About Me

After five years of active-duty service as an Army officer with duty stations in West Berlin and South Vietnam, reported and edited for newspapers and broadcast stations (including all-news radio) in Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles and Honolulu. Covered Honolulu city government for the Honolulu Advertiser and KGMB-TV. Served on Congressman Cec Heftel's staff in Honolulu and Washington, then managed corporate communications and was Hawaiian Electric Company's spokesman for nearly a decade. A communications consultant for 19 years before moving to California in 2012. Launched, produced and hosted Hawaii Public Radio's "live" weekly "Energy Futures" public affairs program in 2009-10. Authored books on The National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific ("Punchbowl" 1982) and on the decline of standard grammar in business and society ("Me and Him Are Killing English!" 2007). Now an information officer with the California Department of Water Resources.